etcReally excited about upcoming training--our coaches have arranged for us to work with a group that trains all sorts of athletes on strength, speed, and agility training; mental conditioning; etc. once a week for a trial month, and possibly longer if we like it. Can't wait for that!

NotesWas our first practice back after holiday break. It's been 4 weeks off. I didn't feel bad fitness-wise, but felt a little sub-par awareness and strategy-wise. Overall it was a bit scrappy. Not too bad for the first practice after a break though. Feeling a bit achey now.

NotesMy bike's in the shop getting new brakes, so couldn't cycle today. But it's now done and I can pick it up tomorrow morning so will cycle tomorrow. Not feeling too bad from last night's practice, but it definitely is hard on the body being knocked around in a way that just exercising doesn't quite match.

I weighed myself today; I plan to weigh myself weekly, always on Monday morning. Scale hovered between 70 & 71 kg (it's analog, so it can be hard to get a really precise reading). So I haven't lost much of anything but I'm actually pretty pleased with that start because I at least didn't go up! And my exercise is going to be higher starting this week, so I expect it to get a bit easier.

I might take more photos tonight... maybe I'll do that each Monday. I don't know if I'll always post them.

Another goal I need to set for myself is to drink more water! I know I drink nowhere near enough. Yesterday I had a soya/almond drink, then a cup of tea. Then shortly before leaving for practice I realised that I hadn't had any plain water at all, so gulped down a glass before leaving (long commute, so that was close to 2 hours before starting to skate). I then had a small bottle of water over the 3 hours I was at practice. That's it. I do get water from my smoothies and the couple of cups of tea I have, but as the tea is also a diuretic, I know I should be getting more.

Took a few crap pictures today. My partner was falling asleep so these are mirror shots and not very clear. I don't look much different, but I thought I'd attempt to take some that would show some muscle. One day I'll get pictures of my legs.

NotesOne of the skaters from my league, who is also a firefighter, has put together a plyo workout that led for some of us tonight. It included stair running and jumping, all sorts of jumping around, press ups and dips, and ab work. It was pretty tiring, and I enjoyed it.

NotesMy eating has been kind of weird today. I'm working at home and have just been eating something every couple of hours, so I didn't bother trying to label things as specific meals. Was really craving sandwiches today.

Last edited by FormicaLinoleum on Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

One thing about London is that it's big and can take a long time to travel around. We have practices in two different locations and neither is very close to home. Sundays we have three hours practices but with travel it takes 6 hours out of my day. For weeknight practice (2 hours) I head there right from work around 6:30-7:00 and get home around 11:00-11:30. So getting 7 hours of skate time in a week takes 15 hours out of my week. It's like that for most of us. But it can make it hard to fit in other things, like cooking meals.

NotesToday is going to be my rest day. Though Saturday is my rest day on my schedule, I'll probably be switching it around because my partner (my girlfriend, that is, not my workout partner, though she is actually also my workout partner) likes to go to the pub with her coworkers after work on Fridays rather than go home and lift weights (imagine that!). So I'll be lifting weights tomorrow instead of today. As I'm lifting weights only 2x per week, I prefer to try to spread them out a little more instead of doing it Sat and Monday, but what can I do--I need someone there to spot or at least watch and help in case something goes wrong (we lift weights at home, so don't want to be all alone while lifting). But it's probably good timing for the rest anyway, as I was really tired after last night's practice. Scrimmage was very physical and tough.

Starting Monday I am going to try to get up slightly earlier in the morning, for two reasons. One, I'd like to get to work a little earlier so I can leave earlier and have more evening time on non-practice days. Two, I'm going to try to do a short routine for my core three weekday mornings (Mon, Wed, Fri). It'll probably just be about 10 minutes or so. I am NOT a morning person, so we'll see how it goes.

I also need to try to give up coffee other than the stuff I brew at home myself once or twice a week. It'll save me money and lattes are obviously useless calories.

ExerciseMy exercise went pretty well and according to schedule. I exercised 6 days out of 7. I did miss one derby practice due to work, but at least still rode my bike that day. Overall I am pretty pleased and am feeling pretty good.

FoodMy eating was OK. It can certainly be better, but it's already improved a bit, with a bit less eating out a bit less junk.

Upcoming weekHoping to continue to stick to my exercise this week. Thursday is my partner's birthday and we have plans, so that will be an additional rest day (missing a derby practice) with an indulgent meal out. I might be able to sneak in a workout on Thursday or possibly on Friday night so that Thursday is my only rest day. I'm planning to add some short morning workouts if I can manage to pull myself from bed. Mon, Wed, and Fri I plan to do ab work and Tues and Thurs I'll do speed skater stance. I'm going to try to continue to improve my diet. My two main aims for this week are to cut down on buying coffee out and continue to cut down on sugary snacks.

NotesManaged to get up a bit earlier and do my new morning core routine. I just did 2 rounds of three different exercises, so I did exercise 1, exercise 2, exercise 3, 30-second rest, then repeat. Next time I'll do three reptitions. I think that's probably enough. Tomorrow I'll be doing speed skater stance, aiming for 3 reps of 90sec each.

I forgot to weigh myself this morning, so will have to try to remember to do it tomorrow morning.

Still got a latte today. I won't get any more this week, though. Oh, I also didn't ride my bike as it has suddenly got colder here in London and I couldn't face it this morning. So that wasn't good, but I'll still be doing some exercise today, and that's the only allowance I'm going to give myself for this week, so if it stays cold I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it!